IMMIGRATION INTO A FREE SOCIETY Tibor R. Machan* hat should be a free country’s policy toward foreigners who would wish to live there? This may appear to be a Wfairly simple question, but it involves many complica- tions. To start with, what exactly is a free country? What is a policy? What precisely are foreigners? In this discussion, I will construe a “free country” to be a contiguous geographical region the rightful occupants of which have chosen, individually and mutually, to be governed by a common system of laws and their administrators. There would be full consent of the governed to the basic principles of the government, its constitution, and ev- eryone would have the right to take part in the selection of the administrators, whose authority would be fully circumscribed by the provisions of the constitution—no special authority for ad- ministrators that the citizens cannot possess. A “policy” of such a country would be the legal guidelines that would prescribe how to deal with certain public concerns. To join such a country would be to some extent a public concern, ap- plying to all who are not but wish to become members of the cit- izenry. People who are not citizens of the country are “foreigners” relative to the citizens of the country. To immigrate into a coun- try would amount to having abided by the policy that should guide the process of becoming a citizen of a country, and we are here interested in immigration into a free society. How would that be done? PROPER IMMIGRATION The right immigration policy for a free country, to put it bluntly at first, should be this: those who can demonstrate that they aren’t under indictment for any kind of violent crime and have the economic means—a job and/or property in the free coun- try they choose to join—should be accepted as citizens. In a free country, this would mean that they are self-support- ing, not dependent upon obtaining funds from others in order to *Tibor R. Machan is professor of philosophy at Auburn University (on leave) and distinguished professor and fellow at the Leatherby Center of Chapman Univer- sity, California. He is also research fellow of the Hoover Institution, and author of, among other books, A Primer on Ethics, Private Rights and Public Illusions, and Gener- osity: Virtue in Civil Society. He is the editor of anthologies including The Libertarian Alternative. Journal of Libertarian Studies 13:2 (Summer 1998): 199–204 ©1998 Center for Libertarian Studies 200 Journal of Libertarian Studies survive. Now this is not what one might call a recklessly “open door” policy on immigration, but one that is open in a prudent, re- sponsible fashion. Not just anyone could become a citizen, true enough. There is, however, no basic right for one to be accepted as a neighbor in any society—one needs to earn admission. What reasons can be given for accepting the above? The argu- ment goes like this: to acquire property, one needs to find and de- velop valued items, or obtain them voluntarily from others who have done the same. This applies to acquiring a residence and livelihood. If those acquisitions are made properly, without co- ercion or fraud, one becomes a fellow citizen, a neighbor. MODELING IMMIGRATION Consider, as a possible model for immigration, joining a so- called gated community. People often seek entry there either to visit folks who live there or to explore the possibility of eventu- ally purchasing or leasing a home. In such cases, they may enter only if given permission by those who own the place—an occu- pied home or one that is for lease or sale. They would have to leave if those owners withdrew permission. However, once they meet their terms and become lessees or owners, they can live in the community. A free society may well be modeled on such a gated communi- ty. Immigration would be predicated on the permission to either visit someone (an employer or friend) or to purchase a residence. The general precondition, then, of immigration into a free society is self-sufficiency and voluntary relationship with those who are already there. DOWN TO SOME CURRENT CONCERNS Of course, many questions have arisen in connection with im- migration policies in the United States and elsewhere, and it will be useful to address at least some of them based on the gen- eral position sketched above. Is Cultural Identity Necessary? To start with, does an ongoing viable political community require a sense of “identity,” based on more or less common cultur- al attributes? Will not the stability and orderliness of a country be in jeopardy if it becomes inundated with citizens who are cul- turally and ethnically, even racially, different? Such an issue has been raised by, among others, Patrick Buchanan, one of the Republican presidential aspirants in 1996. Tibor R. Machan – Immigration Into A Free Society 201 Is this kind of “anti-immigration” argument essentially col- lectivist? Not necessarily. If by “identity” we have in mind some unifying set of values that bear on public policy and human inter- action in general, there is reason to believe that the anti-immi- gration argument tied to this concern has some merit. If those who aspire to immigrate to a country hail from communities in which corrupt community values prevail, and if the prospective immigrants haven’t seen fit to be rid of them, there is a serious issue afoot. But if it is a matter of bringing in people whose per- sonal habits or religion or style of play tend to make the existing citizens uncomfortable, this cannot be cause for exclusion. One has no entitlement in life to be surrounded by folks who are in every way pleasing to oneself. Multiplying this by millions does not change the moral dimensions involved: majorities have no enti- tlement to find themselves comfortable with those living nearby, their neighbors. The matter of lacking civilized values, howev- er, is fully manageable by reference to the criminal record or lack thereof of the prospective immigrant, as well as his willingness to swear to uphold the law in the country to which he aims to immigrate. Consider, for example, that one may wish to immigrate to the United States while remaining a committed Muslim or Ro- man Catholic or even, to use a more exotic example, a serious bull fighter. If, as it should be, there are no laws prohibiting relig- ious affiliations in a free society, nor any prohibition of the use of animals for sport, then there will be no problem with someone with such commitments coming to that free country. The constitu- tion of such a country makes ample room for those who are eco- nomically self-sufficient continuing following their faith or sporting habits. Should, however, a prospective immigrant believe in, say, the Ghanaian practice of sacrificing a ten-year-old virgin to a local priest because her father sinned (for which the young girl needs to pay), or should someone aspire to join a free society with the objective of coercing others into refraining from eating meat because cows are sacred, such a person could not honestly swear to live by the laws of the country, and could not, then, immigrate and become a citizen. If he were to take the oath, and it later turned out to have been fraudulent, then he could be promptly deported. We might put it this way: a minimalist identity of funda- mental beliefs in individual rights is required of prospective im- migrants. The precise philosophical or religious source of such a 202 Journal of Libertarian Studies belief, however, is not relevant. Nor need such prospective immi- grants become committed practitioners of the religious and cultur- al customs and rituals of the bulk of the existing population. A free society respects individuality and cultural variety, provid- ed that these operate within the framework of a system of laws that protect individual rights to life, liberty and property. Immigration and Democracy What effect, however, does today’s mass democracy have on the issue of immigration? Nowadays, whoever is in control of the state apparatus, through elections, can dispose of the wealth of all citizens. Is this an argument for limiting immigration? We, of course, live in what I have dubbed a democratic fasc- ist state, one wherein the majority of voters can have their way with the law with nearly no restraint at all. The U.S. Supreme Court is no longer a bulwark against this, after decades of decon- struction of the U.S. federal and many state constitutions. What, if anything, can be done to set immigration aright in this context? There is reason to think that limiting immigration will not help at all; indeed, it would be hypocritical to have a welfare state, which is supposedly dedicated to assisting those in dire straits, and exclude people outside of the country from benefiting from its wealth distribution. But, in any case, the welfare state is such a confusing mess of contradictions that one cannot derive from its tenets any consistent policy about anything, including immigration. Are Europeans to be Preferred? Is it, furthermore, conceivable that immigration should be limited, for contingent political reasons, to Europeans, plus oth- ers who have certain skills and background? As discussed in the previous paragraphs, the only matter that should concern present citizens about prospective citizens is whether they can sustain themselves without becoming uninvit- ed burdens on others and whether they are committed to living in accordance with the laws of a free society.